The New Plan
by SnufflesSniffles
Summary: It's Draco's sixth year at Hogwarts and the Dark Lord has come to him with orders for his new plan to defeat Harry Potter. Much to his dismay, Draco himself is the key to this plan, and he is trying his hardest to make his master proud (and to keep his family safe). But when getting close to Harry proves harder than he had thought, will he be able to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?
1. Chapter 1

"This new plan, my Lord…" Draco heard his father begin, his tone worried. Draco could feel his heart racing. The Dark Lord wanted to meet with him, and his father obviously was concerned about this. Their master had come up with a new plan to get revenge on Harry Potter, and while Draco was a loyal and faithful follower who believed in the cause, he too was worried about his involvement in the Dark Lord's new strategy.

He heard footsteps approaching the door, and Draco quickly moved towards one of the chairs in the sitting room, perching himself on the side of it, mocking extreme interest in his newly inked tattoo. "Draco?" Lucius asked, opening the door into the hallway. Draco rolled his sleeve down and looked to his father. "The Dark Lord is ready for you." he told his son. Draco swallowed his fear and strode confidently into the room where the cloaked figure sat waiting for him at his father's desk. He stood attentively on the other side of the desk, unsure whether to address the wizard or wait to be spoken to.

This was decided for him when a voice sent chills through his body. "Thank you for seeing me, Draco." the voice said, as the chair began to turn around. Draco tried to make his face stony, hiding his fear. He was unsure if it worked or not, because when the Dark Lord was finally facing him, he understood what everyone was always so afraid of. Draco bowed low and said "my Lord," unsure of how else to respond.

"It has become clear to me that I will not be able to reach Potter myself any time soon. He is too well protected, too lucky. Now that Dumbledore knows I am alive, it would be foolish to even attempt to show myself." The Dark Lord began, Draco staring directly at the wizard's lips, feeling unable to look anywhere else. "You have decided to join me at an impeccable time, young one. With you at Hogwarts, so close to the boy, you will be of great use to me." he continued, grinning at Draco.

"I will do whatever I can, my Lord." he vowed, sounding so much like his father that his stomach churned. The Dark Lord's smile widened.

"Draco, you are not friends with the Potter boy, are you?" Voldemort asked him.

Draco shook his head immediately. "Of course not, my Lord." he told him proudly.

Voldemort, however, did not look pleased. "Fool." he insulted, and Draco's face fell. "We have work to do, then. Does he trust you at all? Does he even know you exist?" Voldemort pressed. Draco's face felt hot.

"He does not trust me, but he does know me. He knows that my father is one of your loyal servants, my lord." Draco explained, his heartbeat quick.

Voldemort shook his head. "Then, Draco, that is the first part of your mission. You must get close to him. You must get him to trust you. Befriend him, no matter what it takes. Go through his friends if you have to. This plan will go nowhere if you can not achieve this." Draco felt himself shivering with fear.

"And, if I can't, my lord?" he asked timidly.

Voldemort made a clucking sound in the back of his throat. "Then, Draco, you will be another Malfoy that is of no use to me." Draco felt his stomach sink into his feet, and he nodded.

"I will fool him, my Lord. Potter will trust me." Draco assured.

"For your sake, Draco, I do hope so." and just like that, Voldemort disappeared. Draco's knees gave out, and he sunk to the floor. _How was he supposed to pull this off?_

Draco spent the rest of his summer holiday making attempts at strategies to gain Harry Potter's trust. After long hours of debate with himself, he decided that he would infiltrate Potter's inner circle starting with the weakest link.

Now, that in itself took a few hours of debate and strategizing. Exactly who was the weakest link? It could be argued that it was Weasley, seeing as Potter is able to coerce him into whatever dumb schemes he is up to that week. But seeing as Draco went through a whole scroll of parchment trying to come up with plans to make Weasley trust him and each scenario ended with the ginger coming up with some idiotic, hot head excuse not to trust him, he gave up.

The easiest target had to be Granger. While, technically she was the one that had the most fuel to hate Draco's guts, he also knew that she was the most logical. If he put up a good argument and gave her no new reasons not to trust him, her logical side would more than likely take over. Granted, this would mean his behavior would be questioned from ever direction. His reputation would be down the drain if he were to go from Mudblood bullying Malfoy to Muggle loving Malfoy. But, Voldemort's words echoed in his head for what felt like the thousandth time. _"For your sake, Draco, I hope so."_

By the time Draco reached Platform 9 3/4 that September, he had three scrolls full of ways to befriend Hermione Granger. He had been studying and planning and was more confident than ever that he would be able to gain her trust. In fact, he wasn't even sure why he had been so worried about this in the first place. This would be so horribly easy that he would have the Dark Lord kissing his feet by Halloween.

He reassured his mother that the plan wasn't dangerous and that everything would be fine. However, she was still more tightly wound than ever. He felt bad that he was doing this to her, but he knew that to keep her safe he had to. Draco wasn't sure exactly what the Dark Lord would do if he failed his mission, but he knew that he did not want to risk finding out.

Draco kissed his mother goodbye and proceeded onto the train to find Crabbe and Goyle. He knew that, if he was to succeed in his mission, he would have to enlist the help of his faithful friends first. Once located, he pulled them into an empty compartment and told them as much as he could without giving anything actually important away. They seemed reluctant, but agreed that they understood (much to Draco's amusement, for they never understood much) and would do whatever they could to assist him.

Then, working perfectly with his plan, Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked by his compartment. Bidding his friends farewell, Draco smiled and followed the three Gryffindor up the train until they found empty seats and settled into them. Taking a deep breath and swallowing his pride, Draco gently knocked on their closed compartment door. Their faces looked up, startled, and their expressions showed annoyance when they realized who it was. However, Draco watched as Hermione, who was closest to the door, cracked it open just so. "What is it, Malfoy?" Weasley called, making Draco silently glad he hadn't tried to win Ron over first.

Draco continued smiling, looking directly at Hermione. "All the other compartments are full. I was wondering if I could…?" he asked, head nodding to the seat next to her. Hermione turned, open mouthed, to Harry and Ron who were clearly also stunned. "Please?" he added, watching as Ron practically fell over when he heard it. It was strange to watch them communicate this way. If Draco didn't know any better, he would think the three of them had learned Occulemency and were reading each other's thoughts. After a few moments, Hermione turned back to him and opened the door the rest of the way. "Thank you." Draco said politely, his smile resting on his face. This would be easy, indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione had a bad feeling in her stomach as soon as she saw Draco's face show up in their compartment window. And him being so polite and kind the whole ride to Hogwarts made her want to crawl out of her skin. She didn't know what he was up to, but whatever it was, it must have been his weirdest plan ever.

She kept exchanging skeptical looks with Harry and Ron, who had pointedly been silent the entire ride. Every time Draco spoke, they merely looked away from him in different directions. He had asked how their summers had been. "Fine." she had told him, though that was all she would give. Though Hermione hated Draco, she knew that ignoring him like Ron and Harry were would be childish, and Hermione Granger was nothing if not mature. She would handle this… incredibly unsettling situation with grace and dignity, though be sure not to play into whatever game Malfoy was creating.

"Hermione, how did you like the Muggle Studies homework this summer?" Draco asked her, and Hermione's eyes widened. Not only did he use her actual first name, but he also was talking to her about school work. Muggle Studies work. Maybe this was his plan; to get information for his homework out of her. She felt moderately relieved at the thought- at least that would be a more normal scenario than Draco just being personable.

Hermione sat up straighter. "It was alright. I had already read the novel that was assigned, so it was a bit duller than usual. But I managed to get thirty inches on it." she told him, unable to resist his bait of school work. Draco's smile widened when she told him this.

"That's quite impressive, Hermione!" he exclaimed, yet again shocking the trio. Did he just… compliment her? He really must want something. "It was so difficult for me to get through. I only managed 15 inches! Being a pureblood," he continued, and everyone watched him closely, knowing that there was no way this could be going somewhere that wasn't extremely offensive. "… really has made me ignorant to so many things in the world. I really am looking forward to Muggle Studies this term so I can start bridging the gap in my knowledge." he finished. Hermione had never been more surprised in her life.

"Do you… do you really mean that?" Hermione couldn't help but stammer.

Draco nodded, not missing a beat. "You won't believe me, but I mean it entirely." he told her, and Hermione frowned. She wasn't sure what to believe. The brunette curled into herself, leaning against the window, and quietly pondered the rest of the train ride. No one else spoke, either. It seemed as though they all had had enough weirdness for one night.

Once the train stopped in Hogsmeade, Hermione and her friends made their way to the carriages. Draco did not join them, but did bid them a very friendly farewell. As soon as he was out of earshot, Ron erupted. "What the bloody hell was that?" he asked, and Hermione shushed him. "Oh, come one, Hermione! You can't tell me that wasn't the strangest thing of your whole bloody life! What is that ferret face up to?" he continued, still shouting.

And then, Harry began laughing. Hermione and Ron stared at him, but soon enough joined him in his fit of laughter. It was rather comical, thinking of Draco Malfoy being nice to them, even if he was up to something. They decided that, whatever he was up to, they would let it go on for a little while as they tried to figure out what it was he really wanted.

The rest of the night went as expected. Dumbledore made his start of year speech, first years were sorted, and they stuffed their faces with amazing food. The trio told the rest of their friends about their train ride with Malfoy, and they all found it quite humorous as well. Hermione found it almost sad that it was such a wild notion that Draco could be nice- that he could, just maybe, turn over a new leaf. Certainly she didn't believe him, and she too felt that he was up to something. But there was a small hope inside her, from the part of her that was still young and innocent and thought the best of everyone, that he could change. But, the thought vanished as quickly as it came as the sound of Ron impersonating one of the things Malfoy had said on the train pulled her back into reality, giggling along with her friends.

After what seemed like years, the welcome feast ended and the students headed off to their dormitories. Hermione had almost forgotten about the strange train ride just hours before until - "Hermione!" she spun around and saw Draco Malfoy waving a hand at her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "I just, um…" he ran a hand through his hair, "Wanted to say goodnight. And to thank you for being so nice to me on the train today. I know it must have been difficult." he told her, surprising her yet again.

Hermione felt herself smiling back at Draco, despite how suspicious she was of him. "Sure…" she wasn't sure what else to say. Nice Draco was still throwing her off. "Goodnight." she told him, and hurried to catch up to her friends before he could say anything else. She definitely wasn't comfortable with friendly Draco.

Once in the common room, Hermione told Harry and Ron about what Draco had said to her. It seemed to worry them a bit, as well. "What ever this is," Harry deducted, "it seems like he's targeting you, Hermione." he looked concerned, and Ron hopped out of his seat.

"If he's got something mean in store for you I'll- I'll-" the ginger boy stammered, and Hermione patted his shoulder.

The girl sighed, "Look, I know Malfoy is a git, but it _is just Malfoy_. Whatever he's up to, I can handle it. It'll be fine." she told her friends, who seemed slightly comforted by this.

Ron sank back into his chair. "You're right. We've handled worse than that ferret face." he decided, seeming to already have forgotten how upset he had been just moments ago. Harry still seemed uneasy, but agreed that whatever it was Draco was planning, it couldn't be nearly as bad as anything that had already happened to them.


	3. Chapter 3

Throughout the first week back at Hogwarts, Draco had toned down his friend act, not wanting to overwhelm Granger- or, more importantly, make her more suspicious. However, he did make it a point to smile at her every chance he got, and greet her good morning ever day and good night every evening. Draco figured that forming a habit this way, even as simple as this, could make her begin to think of him as something other than the bully who had tormented her and her friends the past five years.

Draco also made it a point to defend Potter whenever the subject came up, even when he wasn't around one of the trio, making sure his act seemed entirely wholesome. He couldn't have other Gryffindors running back to Granger- no, Hermione. He had to get used to thinking of her as Hermione every time he referred to her, that way he wouldn't slip up in person- anyway, he couldn't have anyone telling her that he had been Potter-bashing when she wasn't around. No, much the opposite. Everyone would hear about what a good person Draco was being, and how he hadn't even given a mean look since the start of term.

His fellow Slytherin were thrown for a loop, but he didn't care. He couldn't care. Once this was all over, and Harry Potter was in Voldemort's grasp, everyone would know what Draco had done and his reputation would be restored. However, it truly was taking it's toll on him. Draco had so quickly gone from the most popular Slytherin student to the bottom of the food chain, sitting at the end of the house table with only Crabbe and Goyle by his side. Even his long time admirer, Pansy Parkinson, had given up on him- though, this was more of a gift than a shame. Draco held strong, though, telling himself that it was all worth it. He would save his family and himself and be a hero in the eyes of all Death Eaters- the greatest honor for a pure-blood.

Towards the end of September, Draco decided to make another move. He had received an owl from his father asking about how his studies were going, though, of course, he had been really inquiring about the mission without actually writing it. His father had never cared before to ask about his studies, and he certainly wouldn't now. No, dear old father just wanted to know how quickly Draco's mission was failing. He figured he'd better get a move on proving him wrong- proving everyone wrong.

So one day in Arithmancy, one of the only classes that he had with Hermione and not the rest of the Golden Trio, Draco decided he would make a simple but very bold move. He sat in the seat next to her this class, earning himself many strange looks. However, he simply gave her a small smile and continued on as he usually would.

In fact, he was the perfect student that he always was, in hopes to make her think that he wasn't up to anything. He didn't even pay her another glance until the class was over. "Didn't your friend miss you back there?" Hermione asked him, referring to Blaise Zabini, who he usually sat with this lesson.

Draco shrugged. "It didn't bother you, did it?" he asked, ignoring her question. He repressed a chuckle at the puzzled look on her face. "I can move back tomorrow if you'd like." Draco offered, packing up his things.

"What?" Hermione asked. It seemed as though she couldn't fathom him taking her feelings into consideration, and Draco felt a small pang in his chest at that. Sure, he was mean to her, but he hadn't thought he had been _that_ bad. He poked fun at her and her mates, but, that was just it- it had been _fun_ to him. It never really occurred to him that calling her "mud-blood" and other foul names might not be seen as him trying to have fun in her eyes.

"I want to sit here, for a few reasons, actually. But I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'll move back to my regular seat tomorrow." Draco told her, still giving her a kind smile.

The brunette seemed to ponder this while putting her large book back into her bag. "Why do you want to sit here?" she asked quietly, not looking at him. This took Draco by surprise. He had assumed she would just let him leave without saying anything else and be rid of him. Draco thought for a moment.

"Blaise and I aren't exactly speaking at the moment." Draco admitted, his smile falling in a very real way. Of course, he was playing this up in hopes to tug on Hermione's heartstrings. However, it was true. Blaise was one of the Slytherin who didn't take kindly to blood traitors, which his whole house was beginning to think of him as since he was suddenly sticking up for Harry Potter and refusing to bully anyone.

Hermione looked at him. "You can sit here." she told him, though her face looked stern. "But that's it. We aren't mates, we don't work together, you can't copy my homework or notes, and you can keep all your pouty faces and pity stories to yourself because I'm not interested." she snapped, throwing her bag over her shoulder and leaving the classroom, not even giving him time to fight.

"Thank you!" he called to her retreating figure, grinning to himself. That had gone better than he had ever expected.

Another week came and went, and Draco felt that it wouldn't be very long now before Hermione caved. Each day in Arithmancy he continued to be a model student, hoping that if the Gryffindor knew how seriously he took his studies, she might have more respect for him. Once they had gotten their first few batches of homework back, homework that he received top marks on, she seemed to have dropped her suspicion a bit. At least, she no longer was worried about him copying off of her assignments or trying to cheat in any way.

On October the 1st, Draco felt he had reached a checkpoint in his mission. Before he had the chance to greet Hermione when passing by her in the hall, she gave him a small smile. "Good morning." she said. A wide grin cracked across his face, and he returned her greeting.

"How are you this morning?" Draco asked, noticing that she had actually stopped to speak to him and internally rejoicing.

"I'm well. And you?" she returned. She seemed a bit strange to him, but then again, the fact that the two were purposely stopping to chat in the hall was indeed strange.

Draco's smile grew. "You're speaking to me of your own accord, so I'd have to say I'm doing fantastic."

Hermione's smile faltered. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Draco." And she turned to walk away.

"Be that as it may, something I've done must have gotten me in your good graces." his voice was sing-song-y and she turned back to look at him, eyebrows raised. "You've never called me Draco before."

Hermione's eyes widened. It seemed she hadn't even noticed she'd used his first name. How cute… no. Not cute. How stupid. She was supposed to be the smart one, and yet she didn't even know what she said to him? Pathetic, really.

"Oh, stuff it. It's nothing you've done. I've just- well, I've spent almost a month in class next to you. Hearing Professor Vector calling you by your first name for an hour each day takes it's toll, apparently." Hermione defended herself, and it was quite a good excuse, too. So good, in fact, that he probably would have believed it if she hadn't been blushing.

However, since he was being nice now, he gave her mercy. "That makes sense. I'm sorry I teased you for it." he looked down at his shoes in remorse. "But… I did like it. You using my first name, I mean." he continued, glancing up at her pretending to be bashful.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that it won't be happening again. I'll see you in Arithmancy." she rushed off quickly, clearly afraid he'd try to call her back yet again.

Draco stood there for another moment, smirking to himself. He was quite pleased. Not only had she greeted him first and initiated a conversation, but she had called him "Draco". And it wasn't even 8 in the morning yet! It really was turning out to be a fantastic day.


End file.
